TEMPE, Ariz. (www.TheSunDevils.com) -- Arizona State sophomore shortstop Dustin Pedroia has been named the District IX Player of the Year as chosen by the Nationaal Collegiate Baseball Writers Association of America (NCBWA).

Pedroia (Woodland, Calif.) was selected as the top collegiate player in the district (California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona, Alaska) and is one of nine finalists for the Dick Howser Trophy. Collegiate Baseball and USA Today/Sports Weekly have already named Pedroia a first-team All-American, in addition to earning the On Deck Circle Team MVP award and Pac-10 co-Player of the Year.

Pedroia heads into this weekends super regional against Cal State Fullerton ranked eighth in the nation with a .423 batting average and with 120 hits ranks fourth in ASU single-season history. He broke the ASU and Pac-10 single-season record with 34 doubles and has recorded 41 multi-hit games. He has also had four separate hitting streaks of 10 or more games en route to sharing the Pac-10 Player of the Year award with Stanford's Ryan Garko. The Tempe Regional Most Outstanding Player, Pedroia also tops the Pac-10 with 83 runs scored, 284 at-bats, 172 total bases and 41 extra-base hits.

Playing and starting in all 65 games this year and 123 consecutive games of his Sun Devil career, Pedroia is a .388 career hitter with 202 hits, 47 doubles and 97 RBI. While ranking among the nation's top hitters, Pedroia's biggest impact comes in the field where he has a stellar .973 fielding percentage, committing only eight errors in 307 total chances. He has not made an error in the last 23 games dating back to April 7, a span that includes 75 assists and 114 total chances.